Protocol For Generating Business Ideas & Never Running Out Of Them
141: How to never run out of business ideas.
Welcome reader! Trying to start your business or looking for a new idea? There is much to worry about when operating in the attention economy (source). We live in a golden age where everything you have ever imagined can be turned into a form of income. What has no one thought about yet? It is exactly what is going to make you rich.
Protocol For Generating Business Ideas
Why you need them: There is a good chance that you will soon find yourself in a position where you will have to generate a business idea. Maybe you are starting your first business. Maybe you are in the process of shifting to something new. Maybe you are tired of the middle and trying to escape from your mediocre boss (source). The approach and logic to finding a new business idea will remain the same… You are looking for something others are not seeing. The other option is that you are selling the shovels during the gold rush. Since you are reading posts such as this one, there is a good chance that you know what it means when you follow the trends, others are you are doing. Favorite YouTuber is swearing that he has the best business idea? There is a good chance the method is already saturated, and it is too late to be an early adopter. Everyone who has spent time in the space understands our point here. The trick? Not to find yourself in the same situation. To do what others won’t do. To see what others won’t see. On top of that, add that rarely you will be able to stick to one business and ride it until the end of time… It doesn’t take brain power to realize that you will never be able to avoid generating new business ideas.
Worth mentioning: As mentioned in the previous post about the niches and how to choose one (source). There is a good chance that your first choice regarding the new business idea won't be a good one. Not because you lack a skill or your pick is not good enough. It often comes down to the experience and realizing how things work. If this is your 15 time starting a new business. There is a much bigger chance your idea will be picked better when compared with someone who is doing it for the first time. It is the same reason that people often hit it big on their third or fourth try. You can't fake the experience. Also we all know that giving up is the only way to lose no matter what you are doing in life. The same applies here. Once you choose the business idea and get set on it. The following steps should be all about getting your idea out there to the public and testing the concept while minimizing the costs.
Demand Testing: The idea of this post is not to go in-depth on how to test the demand but to provide you with a general overview of what you should keep in mind. When it comes to demand testing, you must realize that you can't create it as opposed to what is being preached around. Maybe you could if you were someone having something unique or knowing something others don’t know (yet). But at the same time, there are small chances you will be reading a post such as this one in that case. The concept of demand testing is important. If done right, it will save you hours of pain and thousands of dollars. If there is no demand for your business ideas or others, don’t care enough about them. You are wasting your time. If you have to take something out of this paragraph… It is that you can't force the demand—meaning that it will be impossible for you to monetize your business idea.
Our advice on the competition: No matter what business idea you have. There is a strong possibility that someone is doing what you plan to do. That doesn’t mean you should not bother with it—as long as there is a demand. It means you will have to go in with the healthy expectation that others are doing what you want to do. It also proves that there is a market fit around your business idea and that the demand part is handled. Whatever you decide to do and stick to, you should expect that there will be those who will do the same as you.
Protocol Approach To Generating Ideas: What is great about the protocol approach we will go over? It makes you think. Once it makes you think, it forces you to go from the least to the most friction. What does that mean? Your favorite gurus have always told you that the best business model is _____ (source). That is not an optimal approach and will set you up with mediocrity. What is great about this protocol is that it can be applied to finding the business model. The same principles apply. It takes you from picking something where you are an expert or already knowledgeable enough so others are ready for your skill to browsing specific websites to spark your imagination. The general protocol for generating business ideas comes to:
Understand your skillset and knowledge area (fundamentals)
Ignore all the mediocre and saturated advice from YouTube gurus and courses
Always go for the least friction possible
Realize you won’t be able to avoid competition
Understand demand can’t be forced
Learn to reverse engineer (Rip and run)
Use tools and websites to help you spark your imagination
Make money
Repeat
Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. - Guy Kawasaki
Ignore Tier - Too Late And Saturated
YouTube: If we had to classify a business generation channel, that would make things the hardest for you. Plus, it sets you on the most saturated path. The answer is simple. YouTube. Everyone is watching YouTube instead of reading or being able to think with their head for the moment. There is a good chance that your new and unique business idea your favorite Guru put you on will be the same one 5000 others tried to start in the past 24 hours since the video went live. Does that mean that the idea is not good enough? Not necessarily. It just means you will be playing in the saturated field. Better said—you will be playing harder. Making YouTube as a business generator is mid at best. This excludes anyone who can look at the random videos and extract the ideas. Those who possess that ability are rare and usually not the ones who are just starting their journey.
Average YouTube business video in 2025… Anyone recommending Amazon KDP as a business idea /model wastes your time.
Courses: We have been big on them. Why? Because most of those selling you courses in the first place understand that the information you will obtain inside them is outdated. This is quite common in affiliate work. You have multiple examples where those who pretend they are giving you something unique are giving you a method that is on die-out. We have covered this in our affiliate intro, which everyone should read (source) who is interested in affiliate marketing. Does that mean courses are not worth it? Far from it. There are great courses out there that will greatly impact how you think and operate. To get back to our point. Generating business ideas and picking them up from the courses? It could work, but you should be careful.